What exactly do zinc fingers do?

The zinc finger is a common structural motif in many protein DNA binding domains. It is found in roughly 3%(!) of all proteins and performs a diverse range of functions not limited to enhancing or inhibiting one specific gene. read more

The following are images of a single zinc finger protein (Zif268, pdb ID: 1ZAA [1]) with three zinc finger domains (green) coordinated to zinc ions (gray) by the side chains of two cysteines and two histidines (blue). read more

Zinc fingers are so useful that they are found in thousands of our proteins, and are common in all plants and animals. Surprisingly, however, bacteria do not appear to take advantage of these little structures. read more

A zinc finger is a small protein structural motif that is characterized by the coordination of one or more zinc ions (Zn 2+) in order to stabilize the fold. read more